


Mary's Little Secret

by Small_Hobbit



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-06
Updated: 2014-08-06
Packaged: 2018-02-12 02:28:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2092269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Small_Hobbit/pseuds/Small_Hobbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John Watson thought they had agreed to no more secrets, but it seemed he was wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mary's Little Secret

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to scfrankles for being my beta, any lasting mistakes are my own.

Sherlock Holmes looked up as John Watson entered 221B.

“You had given me to understand that you were unavailable today,” Sherlock said.

“I thought I was. I’d intended to go out with Mary and Olivia, but apparently Mary had something else planned, which I wasn’t invited to.I thought we no longer had secrets between us, but it seems I was wrong. I need you to help me find out what’s going on.”

“What makes you think there’s anything going on? Mary seemed quite happy last time I saw her.”

“That was a few weeks ago. Since then there’s been a number of occasions when her phone has ‘pinged’ and she’s ignored it until I’ve left the room. Once when I came back in again – I was putting Olivia down and had forgotten her teddy –Mary instantly put her phone back down.”

“Have you asked her about the messages?”

“Not specifically. I have asked her if everything’s okay and if there’s anything she wants to tell me, but she says everything’s fine. And when I ventured that she seemed a bit preoccupied, she said there was nothing for me to worry about.”

“So why _have_ you come to me?”

“This is the third time in the last few days that she’s gone out without me and without telling me where she’s going.”

“Agreed, it does seem strange. She has plenty of opportunity to go out when you’re at work, so we can conclude that wherever she’s going it’s important to her. Could it just be one of those things that mothers and babies go to?”

“No. If it was she’d have told me where she was going.” John was starting to get frustrated with Sherlock’s lack of urgency. He wanted them to leave to find out what Mary was doing.

“Do you have any idea where she may have been going?” Sherlock asked.

“The other morning, when I was about to go to work, I heard her say to Olivia that they would be going to St James’ Park. Mary looked a bit startled when I went in to say goodbye to them, but I didn’t think any more of it at the time.”

“Right. Since I’m clearly not going to be able to concentrate while you stand and fidget in the middle of the flat, we’ll go and solve Mary’s little secret and by then I should have the results I’m waiting for.”

***

They took a taxi to St James’ Park. As John paid for the taxi Sherlock said, “What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to speak to her. She’ll try to avoid my questions, but she knows you’ll see through any excuse she may try to use.”

Sherlock had expected finding Mary to prove difficult, but within a few minutes they saw her, sitting on a park bench, Olivia in her pushchair. Mary was talking with the lady sitting next to her, whilst a little mixed race girl was smiling and waving Olivia’s toys at the toddler.

“Oh!” John said and stood still.

Sherlock ignored him and strode over to confront Mary. Mary, on seeing Sherlock, stood up, grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away from the bench. John meanwhile, went to take her place and grinned at Olivia, who waved at him and said “Dada!”

Mary turned to face Sherlock. “You couldn’t leave me alone, could you?” she said furiously. “No secret that can’t be discovered by the great Sherlock Holmes. Yes, Madison is my daughter. When I fled the country it wasn’t safe to bring her with me, so I left her with her father. He died recently and the family want to put her up for adoption. This was my last chance to see her before I lost touch forever. I paid for Zoe to fly over with Madison. They’ve been staying with Zoe’s cousin, and as you’ve no doubt worked out I’ve seen her every day.”

Sherlock looked stunned. “But you said nothing to John.”

“How could I? He knows nothing of my past. How could I explain about my daughter without telling him something of that past?”

Sherlock looked around, trying to find something to say. He was prevented from having to find a reply by John coming towards them, pushing the pushchair with one hand, whilst holding Madison’s hand with his other.

“I’ll leave you two to your discussions,” John said. “We’re off to feed the ducks. Zoe’s explained the situation to me, and I think it’s time that Madison got to know her new Daddy a bit better.”

**Author's Note:**

> An updated version of ACD's The Yellow Face, but with a twist.


End file.
